Rebels and Pranksters
by cutekittenlady
Summary: After the battle with Zarkon, Keith and Allura discuss their childhoods.


Keith held his gaze on the stunning sea of stars that lay beyond the glass of the castle's windows before allowing his eyes to drift down to the knife that sat in his lap. Running his finger over the hilt, Keith traced the design that scorched itself into his memory after years and years of observation.

He repeated the motion again and again. Just as he had done so many times before back on earth. The unknown nature of the blade had always haunted him before. Constantly reminding him of a part of his past he had no knowledge of.

But now a portion of that weight had been lifted. Keith knew things about his past now that helped to glue the fragmented pieces of his identity together.

Mind, he had never even _considered_ that he might be part alien but there it was laid out bare.

There were still questions. Leftover doubts and fears. But they were lighter on his mind then they had ever been before. No longer haunting him. Keith felt lighter and more relaxed than he had been in years.

Or he had.

Until Shiro disappeared.

To say the team had been shocked to find the black lion empty was an understatement. They'd been devastated.

The loss of their leader was a terrible blow. Curbing any kind of enjoyment they could have gotten from their temporary victory over Zarkon and his empire.

But none of them had time to dwell on their despair. Action had to be taken.

Coran scanned the area for the black paladin, Hunk and Pidge tried to find a way to locate their leader using the same energy locating machine they had used to find the blue lion. Lance and Keith had taken to flying out in search of their mentor and friend.

But there was no sign of Shiro.

Keith sighed and slumped forward in exhaustion. He'd already known what Shiro would have wanted him to do. He'd been slowly pushing Keith towards becoming the fill-in leader should anything happen to him ever since they'd gotten stranded on that planet together.

Keith had always just assumed Shiro was just being dower. Never once did he imagine that anything would actually _happen_ to him.

The sound of the door sliding open behind him and a pair of hesitant feet making their way across the floor behind him caused Keith to raise his head. Allura stood behind Keith looking down at him.

"Anything?" he asked.

The princess shook her head dowerly.

"Oh…" Keith turned his focus back to the stars.

"We will find him." Allura reassured. "We just… need to find a clue."

"I know."

The quietness of his tone didn't reassure the princess.

"We won't stop looking until we find him. The mamorans have promised to give us any news they come across in he's been-" She left the sentence unfinished.

Keith tightened his grip on his dagger and clenched his teeth. "If he's been captured?"

Allura didn't answer.

Instead she took a seat next to Keith and quietly stared out a the stars with him.

Neither of them needed to say anything. If Shiro had been captured the next course of action to take was clear. Mount a rescue.

With Zarkon down, and the empire in scrambles an immediate rescue attempt would be the paladins only chance to reclaim their leader. But if Shiro was not in the empire's clutches… then what?

It was the uncertainty of their current situation that hung over all their heads. The knowledge that they could do nothing but wait.

It made Keith's skin crawl with anxiety.

"I'm… sorry about Shiro." Allura said quietly.

"Sorry? For what? Not like you could've known this would happen."

"Yes but I can't help but feel that I could have done more. I could have told you all about Zarkon's connection to the black lion from the beginning. I could have kept better track of you all during the battle. I could have-"

"You COULD have been killed when you flew the ship in to help us." Keith cut in. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. It was our responsibility to keep track on one another. Not yours."

Allura didn't reply to that, but one glance at her face told Keith it was more due to being at a loss for another argument than out of any kind of acceptance of his point.

"He knew something like this might happen one day. That was why he kept encouraging me to improve myself. He honestly expected me to take over for him when- _if_ something ever happened to him." The bitter tone of his voice surprised the princess. It surprised Keith as well. "I don't know what he was thinking."

Allura brows knitted in contemplation.

This was the first she had heard of this. She had never thought Shiro was the type to be so pessimistic. Yet the leader part of her knew it had been a smart thing to do. They were all fighting in a war, and the potential loss of a someone as key to their struggle as the black paladin should have been taken into account long ago. And if any of the paladins were even close to being qualified for the position, it was probably Keith.

But it irked the princess that Shiro hadn't run this all by her before now.

Chances were it was a recent decision. He had likely hoped it would never come about, but with the uncertainty of the coming battle the possibility had to be taken into account. Still the fact that her black paladin had actually contemplated his own… She didn't dare finish the thought.

"I can't say I know what Shiro would have wanted." Allura admitted. "I didn't know him the way you did."

Keith chuckled bitterly. "You're giving me too much credit. Shiro and I've only known one another a few years."

"Still, that's longer than the others."

"True enough I guess." He admitted before quietly muttering to himself.. "But he's gone now. It's always like this. Everyone leaves in the end."

His voice was barely a whisper. But the princess had sharp ears.

"What do you mean by that?"

Keith's shoulders stiffened. "It's nothing. Forget I said anything."

Allura frowned in displeasure. She opened her mouth to ask, no demand, that he explain himself. But the words died in her throat.

That wasn't going to get her anywhere. She'd only known Keith for a few months but in that time she had learned that the red paladin could become unreasonably obstinate in the face of unheeding authority. Half the time she felt that he would only follow her lead if Shiro was behind her as well. All the paladins were like this to some extent, but Keith especially.

But the princess felt that she couldn't leave this alone.

Partially because if the worst occurred and they failed to located Shiro the paladins would require a new leader. A new black paladin. And Shiro had chosen Keith.

The biggest reason however, was her own inability to leave the red paladin to suffer on his own. Allura had allowed him to suffer in silence without a thought after discovering his relation to the galra. She would not allow that again.

"Of course," Allura chose her words carefully. "I'm sorry if it seems like I'm prying."

"Don't be."

"It's just I haven't known you- any of you- for very long. Ever since you woke Coran and I up it's really just been a steady stream of mission after mission. None of us have really had time to sit down and get to know one another."

"That's not necessary."

"It _is_ necessary." The princess pushed. "I got you all into this. Getting to know you is the absolute least I can do."

Keith glanced at Allura from the corner of his eye. "If you want me to tell you about Shiro, you're not going to get much. I never met his family or anything. We were just… He looked out for me a lot back at the garrison. That's all. I don't know anything more definite than that."

She smiled and prodded playfully. "Ah, so you're someone who requires a lot of looking after?"

"Wha- no!" He blushed in confused embarrassment. "I could-CAN take care of myself perfectly! Shiro just helped me out when I had trouble with stuff okay? He was older and I was younger and he just… I-I dunno, I think he just wanted to keep me from causing trouble."

"Did you cause trouble?"

"NO." Keith said sternly.

Allura stared.

He faltered slightly. "Well okay so maybe I got into an argument with another cadet _once_."

She kept staring.

"Twice."

Staring.

"A few times. A-and maybe I snuck off the base to go stargazing once in awhile. But that's it."

The princess smiled. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a rebel."

"I'm _not_ a rebel. I just don't like people thinking they can make decisions for me without my permission. That's all."

Keith crossed his arms and turned away from the princess. One thing he could say about Allura was that when she got ahold of an idea, it was hell trying to make her let go of it. And right now she wanted to know all about the red paladin.

Well, two could play that game.

"What about you?" He asked pointedly.

Allura blinked in conclusion. "Me?"

"Yes **you**. What kind of trouble did **you** get into growing up?"

The princess raised her chin primly. " **I** didn't cause _any_ trouble growing up."

"Oh I'm sure you didn't." Keith tried to give her the most unconvinced expression he could muster.

Allura blushed in embarrassment. "What exactly are you trying to imply?"

Keith continued to stare at her.

"Did Coran weave that silly story about that Quazzledrip? Because for you information, I didn't leave the door to the garden open! I-It malfunctioned or something."

Humming in a neutral fashion, but didn't take his eyes from the princess.

She pouted a bit before caving, "W-well so what?! Maybe I did play a few tricks, but I was a small child! Every child pulls pranks!"

Keith smiled. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a prankster."

"I was NOT a prankster! I was just…" Allura let the words hang in the air before realizing her own strategy was being used against her. With a sigh the princess demurred. "I was just… lonely."

Allura stared at her knees.

"Father was often busy with his duties. Mother died when I was very small and there were not many other children in the castle. So I had no consistent companions outside of Coran for many years."

When Keith gave no reply she carried on.

"It wasn't as though father was inattentive. He often went out of his way to spend time with me." She smiled at the reminiscences. "We always had such a good time together. Playing little games in the garden."

"Like tag?"

Allura frowned at the sudden interruption. "What is tag? Some earth game?"

"You're kidding right?"

The princess's blank expression answered his question.

Keith's smiled a bit before explaining. "It's really pretty basic. It's a kind of chasing game. One person is "it" and they have to chase after and try and tag the other players by touching them. The person who gets tagged is the new "it" and they have to tag someone to make them "it" and so on."

"Doesn't that get repetitive?"

"It's a lot more fun than it sounds. There are other games too. Like hide and seek." He paused and gave a questioning glance.

"Hide and seek is when one person hides themselves and you have to find them?" she asked, taking the name as inference.

"Right." Keith replied with a smile. "That one's kind of self explanatory."

"And you played such games with the other human children when you were small?" Allura asked.

She had thought it a harmless question. But uneasy look in the red paladin's eyes and the way he averted his face from her own made the princess take notice.

An inkling of worry crept into her. "Keith?"

"I… didn't play with a lot of kids when I was little." His voice was oddly tiny. Lost. Almost as though he was working it out as he said it. "My dad and I, we… we lived out in the middle of nowhere. Just the two of us. I-I never knew my mom. Dad never talked about her. I never questioned why. It was just how things were…"

His eyes narrowed as the disjointed thoughts came together.

"My dad studied the stars for a living. That was why he lived in the desert far away from any city. That was what he _said_ anyway." Keith's voice halted. He could feel his mouth going dry. "But… but now… now that I _know_ … I-It makes… too much sense."

Allura reached for his shoulder only to halt as he started again.

"God, it makes so much _sense_ now." Keith chuckled as he bitterly spoke. "Out in the desert. Far away from other people. Other _humans_."

"Keith…?" The princess spoke gently as she placed her hand gingerly on his shoulder.

He jolted from the touch, but quickly rebounded his hands now wringing in his lap.

"He knew about it Allura. He knew everything. Of course he did. I mean he HAD to." Keith clenched his hands together and rested his forehead on them. "But I don't… I don't _understand_."

Memories flashed through Keith's mind.

All those childhood days. Spent in blissful ignorance.

Him. His dad. Together in that small house.

They weren't unhappy memories. No, not unhappy. Not to HIM anyway.

And then the day it all ended.

He'd gone out. Alone. A usual little hiking trip. He'd done it a thousand times before. It had taken longer than usual, so it was fairly dark when he finally got back to the house.

The empty, quiet, house.

He'd assumed his father had gone out to find him.

He'd waited up for him.

But his father had never come back.

"I-If he knew then why'd he… God, I don't understand."

Keith didn't realize he had started crying until Allura wrapped her arms around his shoulders burying her face into his shoulder.

"It's alright. It's fine." Her grasp tightened around his shoulders. "Everythings alright. We're not going anywhere. _I'm_ not going anywhere."

He barely managed to hold in the sob. Only barely.

Then he broke down.

He grasped at the princess's gentle arms that held him in place. Almost as though they were some kind of lifeline.

Neither of them knew how long they sat there.

Minutes? Hours?

It didn't matter in the end.

By the end of it, both the princess and the paladin felt far lighter than they had before.

They parted quietly, and excused themselves to their own bedrooms.

Allura lay in her bed fully aware that she had not gotten all of the answers she had wanted, but still feeling oddly satisfied.

Keith lay awake, the new revelations he had made still fresh in his mind though somehow less daunting than they had seemed before.

Both drifted off to sleep, the future seeming much less bleak than it had before.


End file.
